By: Clare Whitaker

August 20, 2013 9:46am

Blond bombshell Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) was a legendary Hollywood beauty and entertainer. Her short career included
modeling, acting, and singing, but she is most remembered for her
flawless
looks and swoon-worthy figure. Despite countless admiring fans, famous
suitors, and promising performances, Marilyn's life was shadowed by an array of personal
problems including drug and alcohol abuse. Today she is
fondly celebrated as a star from a bygone era who captured glamour
with
comic humility and fierce passion.

1. Early in her modeling career, Monroe was named the
"Artichoke Queen" at an agriculture festival in Castroville, California.

2. In 1953, Marilyn was named “The Most Advertised Girl in the
World,” representing numerous brands, including American Airlines, Tan-Tan Suntan, Pabst
Beer, and Kyron Way Diet Pills.

4. Marilyn’s male hero was Abraham Lincoln, once saying, “He
was the only famous American who seemed most like me, at least in his
childhood.” She also loved Clark Gable, and as a child she dreamed he was her
father.

5. For twenty years after her death, past husband Joe
DiMaggio arranged to have roses sent to her burial site three times a week.

There was so much more to her then we know. She was smart, funny, sad and loved animals. It would have been amazing to get to see her as a mom. I would have loved seeing her grow old. Such a loss and such a waste of such talent and beauty!!

I use to see Marilyn Monroe as just an iconic figure in history but ever since I watched A Week with Marilyn and the documentary Marilyn in Manhattan I have come to understand her better. There was much more beneath the surface.